Advances in Earth Science ›› 2012, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (6): 613-623. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2012.06.0613
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Shen Wenjie 1,2, Zhang Hua 3, Sun Yongge 4, Lin Yangting 5, Liang Ting 1,2, Yang Zhijun 1,2, Zhou Yongzhang 1,2
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Shen Wenjie, Zhang Hua, Sun Yongge, Lin Yangting, Liang Ting, Yang Zhijun. Evidences for the Permian-Triassic Wildfire Event: Review and Appraisal[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2012, 27(6): 613-623.
Black Carbon (BC) and combustion-derived Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), as inert products of combustion, serve as indicators of palaeo-wildfire for their long-lasting preservation in the sediments. Recently, wildfire records including BC particles and combustion-derived PAHs were discovered in the PermianTriassic (P-Tr) sediments worldwide. It is especially exciting that the content of BC and combustion-derived PAHs in the Meishan P-Tr boundary shows steep peak coinciding with the mass extinction horizon (bed 25 and bed 26). Thus, the P-Tr wildfire event was definitely proposed for the first time. It is deserved to probe the scale and characteristics of the P-Tr wildfire, and the relationship between wildfire and mass extinction. Wildfire, which occurs on land, could tie land, atmosphere and ocean together through combustion products. Climatic and environmental changes, as a result, can be studied by wildfire which gives a holistic approach to understanding the catastrophic history. Therefore, wildfire records in the P-Tr sediment were reviewed, and the relationships between wildfire and mass extinction were appraised in order to draw experts′ attentions.